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Does the mental confusion with Topiramate fade after awhile?

Wed, 06/18/2008 - 20:12

Another question on the topiramate/topimax side-effects.  I've been on 25mg Topiramate at night now for about 6 days now; eventually working up to 200mg/day. I'm in the software field so have to think analytically most of the time, and right now I'm so doped up I'm having a hard time differentiating between what people are saying and the venting system! At first I thought they were talking too quietly, but no one else seemed to be having any difficulties. I'm very groggy, unless I start talking then I'm a bit too animated. I'm also not sure if I'm making sense and people seem to be looking at me funny like my social skills/delivery are a bit off or something. To make the problem worse, I've had some anxiety in the past which has for the most part been under control, but now seems to be making a come back by the stress of trying to "act normal" and understand what's going on at work. I think the anxiety was causing seizure activity too (muscle jerking, altered perceptions, vibrating internally), OR, the Tompiramate is. I'm on such a low dose, that I'd think the cause was the former - anxiety. Beside the point actually.

Anyway.... if the dopiness/cognitive stuff doesn't fade, then this drug is TOTALLY counter-productive to why I went on it in the first place. I wasn't having noticable seizures, just A.D.D. that affected my work indirectly and causes co-workers to think I wasn't listening to them, etc. The doc thinks the A.D.D. is probably caused by frontal lobe seizure activity he saw. I've been having a downhill slide at work for the past few years with focus. Very frustrating and has caused me a lot of worry about continuing to support myself without switching to a less analytical job, which means selling my home I remodeled and the garden I love puttering around in.  OK, major future tripping here that's not productive - sorry.

Has anyone have these cognitive issues with the drug when they were ramping up and had it go away? I want to give the drug a good try if so, but if not, then it's time to try another drug or an alternative medicine like acupunture.

Comments

Re: Does the mental confusion with Topiramate fade after awhile?

Submitted by drewmo on Thu, 2008-06-19 - 00:25

Oh boy, you need to go back to your doctor - or a different doctor?

My neurologist called this drug 'Dopamax' because she said it had exactly the effects you talk about of 'dumbing people down' (her words!). I took it for about a week and had to stop because it was really messing up my mind.

You need to get an EEG. Don't accept a doctors diagnosis of seizure activity until it has been proven. These drugs are much too powerful (and even I might say dangerous) to use on the whim of a diagnosis without an EEG to substantiate the suspected cause.

If you think I'm exaggerating, read my experience here of what can happen when you're misdiagnosed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYrDtyRyz28

 

 

Oh boy, you need to go back to your doctor - or a different doctor?

My neurologist called this drug 'Dopamax' because she said it had exactly the effects you talk about of 'dumbing people down' (her words!). I took it for about a week and had to stop because it was really messing up my mind.

You need to get an EEG. Don't accept a doctors diagnosis of seizure activity until it has been proven. These drugs are much too powerful (and even I might say dangerous) to use on the whim of a diagnosis without an EEG to substantiate the suspected cause.

If you think I'm exaggerating, read my experience here of what can happen when you're misdiagnosed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYrDtyRyz28

 

 

Re: Does the mental confusion with Topiramate fade after awhile?

Submitted by kljagain on Thu, 2008-06-19 - 02:55

OK, first off - Wow! nice vid/song. Lot of feeling in it too.

Sorry for any confusion my previous message may have caused. I know I have epilepsy. I was diagnosed when I was 16 (I'm 44 now) by EEG and I subsequently blacked-out extremely briefly a few times when I was in my early twenties but a higher dose and switching to Carbatrol from Tegretol stopped that. The doc I have now is somewhat new for me, as I was having my PCP simply prescribe the Carbatrol for the past 15 years as the previous nueruologist I saw had prescribed (he wasn't seeing patients any longer.)  Last week he did 4 days of video EEG monitoring where I was off my meds. I had a lot of auras and dizziness, but when I felt things the EEG generally didn't necessarily show seizure activity vice-versa. Hard to say though, since I really couldn't differentiate between the general shakiness going on most of the time and when I supposedly was having a seizure. He couldn't even really classify my seizure type other than it had characteristics of generalized (but not exactly.) Maybe I just didn't understand that well what he was saying. It was also in my frontal lobe area (the focus area.) On Wed I was telling him I didn't really want to take ANY seizure medicine if he couldn't find much going on (like your history sort-of), but then that night I nearly blacked out (and once again, nothing showed on the EEG at that point.) I do know that for the past 15 years on Carbatrol 800 mg I've not blacked out, so I know that was helping. While I was in there getting the monitoring, a neuro-psychiatrist that's also part of the epilepsy center ran a battery of tests on my memory, attention, IQ, verbal skills, etc, etc. The only thing that reallly showed deficits, and it was fairly significant, was attention. So, the doc said that fit with the seizure activity they were seeing in the front of the brain and he thought Tompiramal was something to try for the ADD. I appreciate your concern over misdiagnosis for sure, as I'm not too enthused with the hazy diagnosis I have received to date. The doc is still reviewing all the results I think with his peers and I am scheduled for an MRI just to rule out the remote possibility of lesions, etc. This can be a complicated issue I'm finding out. I'm also now aware (as you found out) that just because I haven't had a really big seizure before, doesn't preclude me. I was pretty worried in the meeting today when I started shaking and it was increasing. I excused myself and found a room to lay down until I got calm.

I found someting just a bit earlier tonight on the web that said much of the cognitive and other side-effects may fade after a few days at each dose increase. Tomorrow will be a full week on 25mg so I'm guessing this probably isn't a good drug for me... If tomorrow isn't a lot better, I'm going to give accupuncture a go for the ADD. Way less side-effects there if it works for the issue. :-)

 

OK, first off - Wow! nice vid/song. Lot of feeling in it too.

Sorry for any confusion my previous message may have caused. I know I have epilepsy. I was diagnosed when I was 16 (I'm 44 now) by EEG and I subsequently blacked-out extremely briefly a few times when I was in my early twenties but a higher dose and switching to Carbatrol from Tegretol stopped that. The doc I have now is somewhat new for me, as I was having my PCP simply prescribe the Carbatrol for the past 15 years as the previous nueruologist I saw had prescribed (he wasn't seeing patients any longer.)  Last week he did 4 days of video EEG monitoring where I was off my meds. I had a lot of auras and dizziness, but when I felt things the EEG generally didn't necessarily show seizure activity vice-versa. Hard to say though, since I really couldn't differentiate between the general shakiness going on most of the time and when I supposedly was having a seizure. He couldn't even really classify my seizure type other than it had characteristics of generalized (but not exactly.) Maybe I just didn't understand that well what he was saying. It was also in my frontal lobe area (the focus area.) On Wed I was telling him I didn't really want to take ANY seizure medicine if he couldn't find much going on (like your history sort-of), but then that night I nearly blacked out (and once again, nothing showed on the EEG at that point.) I do know that for the past 15 years on Carbatrol 800 mg I've not blacked out, so I know that was helping. While I was in there getting the monitoring, a neuro-psychiatrist that's also part of the epilepsy center ran a battery of tests on my memory, attention, IQ, verbal skills, etc, etc. The only thing that reallly showed deficits, and it was fairly significant, was attention. So, the doc said that fit with the seizure activity they were seeing in the front of the brain and he thought Tompiramal was something to try for the ADD. I appreciate your concern over misdiagnosis for sure, as I'm not too enthused with the hazy diagnosis I have received to date. The doc is still reviewing all the results I think with his peers and I am scheduled for an MRI just to rule out the remote possibility of lesions, etc. This can be a complicated issue I'm finding out. I'm also now aware (as you found out) that just because I haven't had a really big seizure before, doesn't preclude me. I was pretty worried in the meeting today when I started shaking and it was increasing. I excused myself and found a room to lay down until I got calm.

I found someting just a bit earlier tonight on the web that said much of the cognitive and other side-effects may fade after a few days at each dose increase. Tomorrow will be a full week on 25mg so I'm guessing this probably isn't a good drug for me... If tomorrow isn't a lot better, I'm going to give accupuncture a go for the ADD. Way less side-effects there if it works for the issue. :-)

 

Re: Does the mental confusion with Topiramate fade after awhile

Submitted by one4gimp on Thu, 2008-06-19 - 14:07
I'd have to agree with calling it Dopamax I've takenTopamax for several years now and am now up to 400mg a day along with taking Keppra and Lamictal but I noticed as they increased the Topamax and before they added the other drugs the memory problems and confussion have grown worse and worse the only positive to this is that it makes buying dvd's a worthwhile venture because after a while you can pop them in to watch them and it's almost like a new movie you're pretty sure you've seen it but you can't quite remeber how it ends.

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